Heartstrings
by Built on the Horizon
Summary: Charles has a heart of gold. This is why Erik can control Charles's heart.
1. Chapter 1

Heartstrings

When Charles is born, the tests are run and his parents are overjoyed to learn of their baby's golden heart. Hearts of gold are rare and precious and the Xavier family protect and love their little treasure.

Little Charlie curls up in his father's lap and listens to his cotton heart beat slowly and it feels like a warm hug that beats under his ear. With a gap toothed smile he looks up at his loving father.

'Is Mother's heart made of kindness?' he asks. Father laughs and squeezes him tighter.

'No, Charlie, it's made of mahogany.'

Hours later, dressed in his pyjamas and his mouth tasting minty, Charlie trails his hand across the rich mahogany wood of his bedroom doorframe, imagining he's tracing his fingers over Mother's heart.

Mother picks him up and strokes his soft hair. 'You touch Mother's heart enough already, Charlie,' and carries him to bed.

* * *

><p>Erik's parents couldn't afford to run the tests on their baby, but they work hard, trying to raise the money needed to see into his heart.<p>

But then a man came into power in their country. They say he never had a heart, or if he did, it's rotten through and made of maggots.

Mama's heart is a blue flower, and she doesn't wilt, not in the trains or the mud or the bunks. She doesn't wilt until a bullet pierces her stem and Mama collapses to the ground.

Erik melts the bell and destroys the files and a soldier's foil heart crumples in his chest. The entire room spins and crashes and the man with the heart of black ink claps his hands.

_Wundabar!_

Erik hangs his head in shame and grief and a coin is placed in his palm. Full of rage, Erik directs his power inwards and plucks at his heartstrings.

His heart isn't made of metal. Erik is sure it's made of stone.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Written for a prompt on the 1st class kink meme: <em>**_Charles has a heart of gold. This is why Erik can control Charles's heart._

**_AU, but not too different from the movie. Please review!_**


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2:

_Trigger warning: Holocaust imagery._

A man knocks on the door of the Xavier mansion. Mother answers, and there is urgent whispering. Charles drags his teddy to the top of the stairs and peers down through the railing.

Mother collapses to the floor with a wail. She's clutching a bundle of cotton to her chest.

That was the day the mahogany hardened and cracked and _broke_.

* * *

><p>Three days after, Mother kneels in front of him and adjusts a black tie around Charles' neck. He looks at her in confusion and touches his fingertips to the pearls around her neck.<p>

'Now where has Teddy got to?' Mother asks with a tight smile.

Charles pointed to the chair Teddy was propped up on and Mother picked him up.

'I'm just going to borrow Teddy for a while, okay?'

It's not okay, but his heart aches and shudders at seeing his mother so destroyed, so Charles nods. After the ceremony, which is full of sad faces and welling tears but Charles just doesn't understand.

That night, Mother settles him into bed and strokes his hair.

'I have something for you.'

She pulls out Teddy and the toy has been restuffed. He's a little warm when Charles hugs him close.

'I think Daddy would have liked it.' Mother says. Her eyes shine with tears and Teddy's are black buttons with white thread.

This is the first time Charles' mind reaches out and touches another.

_Look at him, Brian, my love. See our golden boy._

Charles climbs out of his blankets and wraps his little arms around her neck. They hug fiercely, Teddy warm and soft between them.

* * *

><p>Schmidt has Erik accompany him on a walk through the camp every second day. It's a threat, or a reminder, or merely continuing to stoke at the building rage that Erik carries.<p>

Erik is tucked under Schmidt's arm and he can't shake it off. Shaved and pale and gaunt, the women all look the same. The Doktor points out one with the same bright eyes as Mama, and the only way to flinch away is to bury his face in Schmidt's chest.

There is a mountain of shoes behind the _showers_, the smoke stack billowing grey above them. Each shoe is unique and devastating.

The second mountain they pass isn't quite discernable at first. Misshapen objects all bundled together, soldiers sorting them into smaller piles, being carted away by the shaved women with a sickened look on their faces. They get closer and Erik sees it for what it is.

They're hearts. Hundreds of piled up hearts, made of silver and leaves and chalk. A wax heart tumbles down the pile and a bubbling laugh escapes, the wisps of laughter spiralling into the winter sky.

A second heart makes its escape, a little brown sparrow with a crumpled wing darts from under the shattered glass and takes flight.

_Herr Doktor_ Schmidt ends another heart with the crack of his pistol.

* * *

><p>Charles is seven when Mother tells him to comb his hair and come downstairs to meet Kurt Marko. Marko is a big brute of a man, with a furrowed brow and thick, sausage fingers and Mother says he'll be Charles' step-father.<p>

Beside him is a red-haired, sour-looking boy, his arms crossed over his chest. Cain Marko, Mother says, you two will be the best of brothers. Charles smiles at him, but is rewarded with only a scowl.

Charles tilts his head and stares at Cain. There's a stab of pain at his right temple and he winces as he rubs it. He feels the sharp edges of Cain's ruby heart and knows of the purple bruising on his ribs.

The way Kurt Marko looks around the Xavier mansion makes Charles frown, but his golden heart won't permit him to do much more. He settles for asking after the man's heart.

Pyrite, is the answer.

That afternoon, Charles heaves a large encyclopaedia to the reading armchair, knocking over a chessboard in the process. He settles the huge book on his legs, his bare feet dancing side to side off the edge of the seat along to the wireless until Charles finds his answer.

_Pyrite_. The book says. _Fool's Gold._

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry for the epically short chapter, but I couldn't find a good place to break the next one. So, short now, long in a couple of days or so. Good deal? Please review! Tell me what you think!<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

There's something innately _wrong_ about hurting a heart of gold. It's instinctive, to protect something that rare and precious. Not impossible, just difficult. Against the nature of things.

There is no such protection for a ruby against pyrite.

Kurt Marko stares at Charles like he looks at the expensive diamond encased in glass in the study. It may have been a relative at some time. He doesn't smile, but he _grins_ in a way that makes Charles' insides squirm.

Cain pushes him around, throws a book at his head, and locks him in a cupboard for hours on end. By all rights, Charles should hate him. But he's seen into his heart and mind. It's even more impossible for a heart of gold to think badly of anyone.

After all that, Charles still smiles at Cain Marko and peers over schoolbooks. 'I'm so glad I've got you for a big brother, Cain.'

Cain gives out a violent kick that sends the younger boy sprawling. 'I'm not your brother.' He spits vehemently.

Kurt's shadow fills the doorway and Cain's mind fills with _shit I'm in for it this time bloody Charles at least dad hits where it doesn't show_. 'Cain! Charles, what's going on here?'

'It's nothing.' Charles says, too quickly. 'Just slipped.'

Kurt doesn't believe him, and stares at his son and Charles can hear _piece of shit waste of space you'll wish you were never born_.

Charles screams out in pain and curls up, clawing at his head, ripping out hair from the roots. His head is burning from the inside out, thoughts rattling and growing and pushing and oh, God, it hurts.

A maid is called, 'Charles is having one of his headaches, see that he has a lie down.'

Charles is ushered back into his room and Cain is hauled away to his Kurt's study.

'_What the hell do you think you're doing?'_

'_I didn't do anything, Dad!'_

Charles is listening but he doesn't mean to. They're an entire wing away, but their thoughts and so forceful.

'_We need that brat. Without him, the rich bitch will never give us the money. You idiot! You're going to screw up my plans.'_

Cain stays silent but Charles could hear his mind screaming. _He likes Charles better than me. I'm always just the screw up._

'_Well that settles it, then.'_ Kurt decides. _'You'll be going to boarding school, and if you never come back, it'll be too soon.'_

_Disappointment_ surges through Kurt. _Shame_ swallows Cain.

Charles curls into his pillow and begins sobbing. There's _fearterror_ as Kurt unbuckles the belt and doubles it over. _Embarrassment_ when he's ordered to turn and bend, then there's just _painpainbrighthotpain_ and Charles is screaming with each lash.

* * *

><p>The Doktor with the black heart reforges Erik in the shadow of the smoke pipes. Before he was pinned with a yellow star, Erik wanted to be a tailor. Wanted to work with fine needles and create something useful.<p>

When Schmidt learnt this, he wheeled in a bone thin man, strapped down, stripped naked, and circumcised. The blue numbers on his arm read _214740_, only 40 ahead of Erik himself. He could have stood behind this man in a line, been from the same area. Maybe number 40 recognises him, because he smiles sadly and speaks.

'_Shalom_.' 40 says, but it's almost like he's begging. _Peace_, he says, _please have peace in whatever you will be forced to do._

'He's like me.' Erik whispers and Schmidt's fingers dig into his shoulder painfully.

'No one is like you, little Erik, you are alone in this world.' Schmidt leans in close and hisses into his ear. 'Never forget that, my boy.'

The tall man walks to the wall, to the wide variety of medical equipment (torturing devices) and selects a broad knife. Without hesitation, he spins around and slashes 40 across the chest. 40 screams. Blood laced with silver spills out freely across the metal gurney and striped uniform. Erik can see inside him, through to the smooth silver metal of his heart.

Schmidt places a tray with scalpels and surgical needles and threads beside number 40. 'Show the rat what you can do.' He ordered.

Erik holds the needle between his fingers and Schmidt cracks him across the head. 'Again!' he demands.

The needle had landed on the tiles and scraped a thin layer of green mould onto its point. Erik is only allowed to use his powers, he can't clean it, and there's no anaesthetic, but he gets to work. Down, up. Pull tight, like his mother when she sat by the window with Papa's shirt in her hands.

Shirts don't bleed.

He's so focused, doesn't even blink as he follows the path the needle traces with his eyes and his outstretched hand. He doesn't see number 40 paralysed and sobbing with fear. Erik isn't a doctor, he doesn't know how but he tries to stitch the man together.

When he's done, Erik collapses to the floor and his hands won't stop shaking.

'Stand up and look at him.' Schmidt orders.

Erik's knees are weak but, as always, he does as he's told. 40's eyes are wide and horrified.

'What are you?' he hisses.

A lump tightens in his throat at the rejection. Schmidt's breath in his ear is as soft and deceptive as a feather.

'I want you to remember this moment, Erik. You will always be a freak in their eyes. You must learn to see this as a good thing, Erik, because you are superior to them.' He waves a hand at the man on the gurney and wraps his fingers around the boy's neck. 'It doesn't matter if you save them, or if their hearts are made of gold. You must make the world fear you because it will never accept you.'

Schmidt pats Erik on the shoulder and walks to the door. 'Oh, and Erik,' he stops and smiles through his thin lips. 'Rip his heart out.'

Erik does. The stitches break from the inside out.

* * *

><p>Cain misses dinner and Kurt doesn't mention him. Charles drew a bath for himself, got clean, changed into his pyjamas and goes looking for the other boy.<p>

Charles finds him in the big study with the shelves of books and the fireplace and the chess set. Cain is curled up in one of the large armchairs beside the roaring fire. He's nursing his hand and has a split lip. Charles holds onto Teddy's hand and drags him along the carpet.

'Cain?' he asks tentatively.

The other boy glares at him. 'What are you staring at?'

'I thought…' Charles doesn't know what he thought; only that a mind was screaming out to him and he couldn't just ignore him. 'I thought you might want to hug Teddy?'

'I don't care about your stupid bear!' Cain yells.

He rips Teddy from Charles' hands and throws it across the room. Charles screams moments before it lands.

Teddy hits the wall and falls, straight into the fireplace, his button eyes staring out. Fire engulfs him and the cotton wool burns up. Hot tears run down Charles' face, but he can only stand by the fireplace while Teddy burns.

* * *

><p>Two days later the Marko's are packed up and gone, and so is the diamond in the study. Mother doesn't care in the slightest. She celebrates their departure by drinking a cheap bottle of scotch and smelling an expensive bottle of cologne that hasn't been touched in years.<p>

As for the boy with the heart of gold, he learnt how dangerous it was to have a pure and malleable heart. His strict schoolteachers had told him stories, about boys who traded their hearts for tougher ones, their lives left in ruins. They also say how precious the gold is, and how important it was to keep it safe.

He wraps his heart in leather and binds it like a book. Then he follows his altered heart and buries himself in learning, in mathematics and biology, ignoring the other children who wanted to reach out to touch his heart.

It's a shame that he does cover his heart in strong leather, because one year later, he finds a thief in his kitchen wearing his mother's face. If his heart had been a little more open when they met, he might have understood her better.

* * *

><p>Erik escaped from the camps three days before the death marches start. It's the middle of the night and he bends the wire fences enough to slip through. The heavy gates open for him, now. They didn't a year ago.<p>

The fastest path the Erik has memorised leads right past the smoke stacks and the mountains. He bends down beside the mountain of hearts and picks up a small, flat seed. Mud cakes under his fingernails and he clutches the seed in his fist. He knows it won't become the same blue flower. It has been one year since he last saw that flower bloom and felt his heart harden over.

Still…

Erik carries it for three days, for the three days that he runs and runs, towards the positions held by Allied forces he'd seen on the map in Schmidt's office. He carries the seed until his legs give out and his feet bleed. He doesn't cry anymore.

The ground is packed and hard and cold where he falls, but he digs with his fingernails, places the seed in the shallow hole and covers it up. He smooths it down with the heel of his hand.

Erik stands and runs. He doesn't look back.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Wow. I am so terribly sorry, everyone! I promised you more soon then completely forgot that this story needed to be updated. I feel like I should be punished or something. The inspiration for the seed was from an Australian soldier during World War 1 during the Battle of the Lone Pine. He found a seed on his fallen brother's body, put it in his uniform and planted it in Australia. I was very touched by it.<em>**

**_Please review and tell me what you think! What bits of the movie would you like to see in this 'verse? I'm only going to use snapshots, not retell the story we all know, but I always love to hear your ideas and thoughts!_**


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